My Hair Removal Journey

Facial
hair removal is an important part of male to female gender transition.
Hormones do not remove the pesky facial hair that is a product of our
genetics and so we need permanent hair removal in order to have a smooth
face and never have to shave again. It can be an incredibly expensive
and time consuming process, sometimes taking years and tens of thousands
of dollars. Electrolysis is the long established "go to" method for
hair removal for MtF transsexuals, but laser hair removal has gained a
lot of popularity for those who have the right hair and skin types for
it to have a chance of working. Still, the FDA only rates laser for
"permanent hair reduction" and recognizes electrolysis as the only
method approved for permanent hair removal. Everyone's experiences are
different. My journey so far with hair removal has been extremely
interesting and quite unique. This account is the fist time I have
completely shared my adventures in the often frustrating process.....

My Experience with Laser Hair Removal:

This was such a traumatic experience that I have never fully written
about it before but in sharing my experience with facial hair removal I am
going to describe my experience with laser.About 2.5 years ago I went to a licensed hair removal business in Cary,
NC.The provider I went to see had the
highest rating of anyone in my area and in addition to electrolysis, she was a
laser technician.I had been studying
hair removal for more than a year and after doing my research, decided that
electrolysis would be the best way to go for me considering my extremely
sensitive skin type, hair color and the way I react to the sun.

Despite my research, almost everyone I talked to was advising me to do
laser first, then finish the job with electrolysis as I had some light hair and
some grey hair on my face in addition to mostly dark hairs.So I decided to go to this particular technician
partly because she was so highly rated at electrolysis and partly because she
did laser also.I was not full time or
on hormones yet but at our first consultation she told me that she worked with
many trans clients with great success.

She strongly advised me to have a number of laser sessions first and that
after maybe 6-8 sessions the dark hair should be taken care of and then she
could move on to electrolysis and finish me up in a much shorter time than if
we started with electrolysis.I had a
bad feeling about it but I agreed to do a test laser removal session.This was not a test on a small area of the
face(In hindsight I would strongly
advise anyone trying laser for the first time to do a small test area first!)
and I paid full price, which with her was about $260.

It didn't hurt too bad and after a couple of days I noticed shedding and a
great reduction in the dark hairs on my face.She told me the first 48 hours were the time to watch for any adverse
reactions that I might have and to let her know if I had any persistent
redness, swelling etc. during that time.A week or so passed and I thought I was out of the woods and maybe
getting laser was a good decision.

After that I began to experience itching and redness on my neck,
particularity on the sides.It was not
severe but it seemed to get worse over the next couple of weeks and finally I
went to a dermatologist to have him take a look at it.By this time I was experiencing constant
redness, some puffiness and intermittent itching and soreness on my neck.The dermatologist diagnosed me with
Poikiloderma.

"Poikiloderma of Civatte refers to erythema associated with a mottled
pigmentation seen on the sides of the neck, more commonly in women. Civatte
first described the condition in 1923."Medscape

He described it as a form of sun damage he could not treat but he referred
me to another doctor at Duke University who treated Poikiloderma as part of his
practice.I went back to see the laser
practitioner and she was perplexed.She
had never seen anything like this before and was not familiar with the
condition.She wished me luck and wanted
me to report back after I saw the doctor at Duke.

Duke
University Hospital is a premier medical facility and the doctor I met
with there told me he could treat my condition using a different form of
laser (Pulse Dye Laser) with a blue laser beam instead of the red one
used for hair removal.He also told me
that this laser would not remove hair and that this was a cosmetic procedure
that would not be covered by my insurance.I was looking at a series of treatment that would cost me about $800-$900 a
session and I think I ended up doing 5 treatments.The first treatment removed the redness in
circular shapes and subsequent treatments removed the rest of it until it was
all gone.

Both doctors told me that this was a condition caused by sun damage,
usually long term exposure to the sun.My skin is extremely sun sensitive and for most of my life I have not
been good about wearing sunscreen or protecting myself from the sun.Part of my job during my 13 year fisheries
career put me outside for long periods of time at all times of the year and I
also had a lot of sun when I was younger.One of the posters in the doctor's office stated that the majority of
sun damage occurs before we are 18, even if it shows up later in life.

I will never completely know if this skin condition arose simply because of
long term sun damage or if the laser treatment played a big part. I did have some very mild, persistent discoloration on the affected
areas prior to my laser treatment so my feeling is that I may have had a mild form of
Poikiloderma before my laser session but it became magnified several fold in a
very short period of time after the hair removal session.I will never know but I feel like this is
something a dermatologist might have caught f I had gone to a doctor who also
does laser hair removal.In fact, the
doctor at Duke also performs laser hair removal, but after my experience I no
longer wanted anything to do with any lasers.

Today I think I am free of the Poikiloderma although I have other issues
with sun damage.A follow up visit to
the dermatologist I originally saw revealed that I had a very small skin cancer
less than an inch away from eye. For
this he sent me to yet another dermatologist who performed Mohs surgery which
removed the Basal Cell Carcinoma but left me with a scar between the bridge of
my nose and my eyeball.The little bump
that was diagnosed as skin cancer was smaller than the tip of a ball point pin
but the area of skin that was cut out to the bone was almost the size of a
dime.The part I could see on the
surface was just the tip of the iceberg for this cancer, it seems.The scar isn't too bad but it is another scar
on my face.

Needles to say I do not leave the house without wearing sunscreen even for
5 minutes now, summer or winter, cloudy or sunny day.My little foray into laser hair removal cost
me over $4000 and set me back over a year on facial hair removal as well as
causing me a lot of pain and, for a time, an unsightly skin condition covering
most of my neck.Maybe the silver lining
is that because of all of this, the skin cancer was discovered.The surgeon that removed it told me that if
this cancer was left untreated it could have taken my eye or worse.

My final thoughts on this fiasco is that when I first sought hair removal I
may have had a very mild skin condition that was not noticeable and probably not worth
treatment.Over time that may have
changed but the fact remains that after this single laser session this
condition escalated at least 10 fold at least in a matter of weeks.I don't know the laser caused the condition
but I do think it exacerbated it to the point of making it intolerable and I am
just thankful I was able to find a specialistand had the resources to treat it.

My experience so far with electrolysis:

After
the laser hair removal fiasco in December 2011, and the with treatments
for Poikiloderma beginning the following Spring, my start with
electrolysis was delayed until mid 2012. I found a provider in
Raleigh, recommended by my therapist, who had 25 of years of experience
with thermolysis (a form of electrolysis), so I began seeing her weekly
for hour long sessions. I found out that electrolysis can be just as
painful as most say it is and it also seemed to be a slow process, as
far as noticing progress. This electrologist spent the hours randomly
selecting hairs on different areas of my face and I didn't let her work
below my jaw line because of the continuing Pulse Dye Laser treatments
at Duke.My
doctor prescribed some numbing cream containing lidocaine that, when
applied topically, made the electrolysis bearable, though still
painful. I was also researching places I could go that would clear my
entire face at one time, which I thought would be a much more effective
treatment with quicker results. My main problem there was that I would
have to travel out of state and, since I was not out to my family yet, I
did not know how I could pull that off.

After about 30 hours of
treatments with the lady in Raleigh I noticed a problem, areas of minor
scarring along my chin that I had not noticed before. I found out that
electrolysis can cause scarring if not performed correctly, so that was
it, I cut my losses and was finished with that electrologist. My next stop in the electrolysis journey is detailed in this post, about my Electro Thundersnow Adventure.
This adventuresome trip to Charlotte, NC proved to me that electrolysis
did not have to be extremely painful, with the right operator and
machine, and that I would need to travel out of state to receive the
full facial clearings I was looking for. The technician there was just
too slow and unsure that she could clear my entire face in even two full
days.

Right after this trip I had the skin cancer next to my
eye removed, as described above, and it would be June 2013 before I
started hair removal again. By that time I had come out to my family
and been full time for nearly 6 months.

Last June I made the drive to York, Pennsylvania to get my entire face cleared, as I detailed in this blog.
This was quite an experience and took almost 14 hours over 2 days. I
used the lidocaine cream on sensitive areas of the my face, but even
though the first clearance is by far the toughest, I did not experience
any real pain. For some areas of my face, it was the first time they
had ever seen or felt the electrologists' needle.

So far, I've had 4 full facial clearings with James Walker of Executive Clearance.
I decided to go to to him because he was highly recommended by a couple
of friends, one who had experienced scarring at another business
specializing in full facial electrolysis clearings. He was also one of
only three providers I could find nationwide that specializes in the
full facial clearing. I was fortunate that one of my friends had some
pre- paid time with him that she could not use, so she sold it to me at a
very good price, and that he was doing work in the York, Pa. area which
is half the distance from my home to his office in Buffalo, New York.

Having
extremely sensitive skin, I don't seem to be a good candidate for most
facial hair removal providers. I have been very pleased with James
Walker's work and I will say my experience with Executive Clearance
is night and day compared to what I have gone through with other
providers since starting the hair removal process. For a day or two
after a massive session I might have a couple of small bruises but no
real redness or swelling. The main thing I am noticing now is the real
reduction in facial hair. People that I encounter say they cannot see
anything on my face at all, no shadow, and the only makeup (foundation) I
typically use is BB cream.

I've made three trips to York and one to Buffalo
and have another clearing scheduled two weeks from now in York. I can
easily go a day without shaving now, maybe 2, if I want to and still
pass with no makeup. After my fourth clearing I am seeing the biggest
difference. The hair does come back in a day and I can feel it a little
bit, but it really isn't visible in that short a time. There are some
areas, mostly where I had electrolysis in 2012, that now seem to be hair
free. The best part about my experience with James is that I am
experiencing no skin damage or scarring. For me and anyone concerned
about their face, going to the right provider who uses state of the art
equipment makes all the difference.

With
my 5th and 6th clearings set up before I go to Canada in June for SRS, I
feel I will be good shape for the summer. I am not where I want to be
with hair removal, as I would have liked to have been completely clear
before going full time, but the full facial clearings will have me
caught up to where I Need to be, for now. Electrolysis continues....

About Me

Welcome to Tammy World. I'm a fun loving, adventurous woman who takes
life one day at the time. I started this blog in 2012 to follow my
life and continuing journey. Things can get a little crazy
here in Tammy World but I always try to have fun with what life throws my way, and it has been said that I view the world from a childlike
perspective. Thanks for joining me on my adventures and I hope y'all stay tuned...